Spacex successfully launched their privately developed Falcon 1 version 4 rocket into orbit yesterday.
SpaceX Successfully Launches Falcon 1 to Orbit – Marketwatch, Sept 29 2008
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According to Amazon, the best-selling notebooks are actually netbooks. Netbooks account for 18 of the top 25 selling laptop computers in the Amazon most-popular list, with the $399.99 Acer Aspire One at the top of the list.
According to Vijay Rakesh of ThinkPanmure, the tremendous success of the small, cheap and light netbook threatens Macbook sales as well as Intel profit margins.
Netbooks Vs. Notebooks: ThinkPanmure Sees New Smaller Devices Eating Into Revs, Profits At Apple, Intel – Barron’s, September 24, 2008
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LG announces their 10-inch mini-notebook called the X-Note Mini.
Atom-based CPU, 10-inch screen, comes in white, pink or black … not much to distinguish it from the many other netbooks out there, aside from the logo & choice of models.
LG Electronics, 10-inch mini notebook ‘X-Note MINI’ Release – LG new release, 2008-09-25
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HTC, who manufactures the T-Mobile G1 with Google mobile phone – also known as the HTC Dream – , believes that the device is so good that it has the potential to ‘obsolete the personal computer’. One Florian Seiche who is VP HTC Europe, also says that the browsing experience is as good as a desktop and it offers easy access to Google’s many offerings such as mail, IM, YouTube, Maps, Street View, and also has a QWERTY keyboard, etc.
…hmm, maybe…but we’re not so sure about Seiche’s 1st point re bailing on the PC. It might not be fun running the Android SDK on the G1, for example.
Interview: HTC chief Florian Seiche says Google’s G1 phone will kill off the PC – Telegraph, 26 Sep 2008
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Happy 10th birthday, Google!
To celebrate, Google kicks off Project 10 to the 100th, which is a call for “ideas to change the world by helping as many people as possible”. So if you have a suggestion in the gategories of Community, Opportunity, Energy, Environment, Health, Education or Shelter, or the ever-popular Other, submit them to Google – they’ll fund 5 projects to the amount of $10M.
Use the Hippo Water Roller for inspiration and mine MIT IDEAS Competition for small ideas and tap into Grand Engineering Challenge for big ones. Then, confirm relevance via the UN’s list of Global Issues.
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Yves Rossy aka FusionMan flung himself out of an airplane over France today, ignited his jet pack and flew to England. Flight time – 15 minutes.
Rossy used ACT carbon fiber wings (not too far removed from the wax wings used by Icarus) powered by 4 JetCat P-200 turbine engines.
…nice accomplishment, but a consequence might be to impair the Icarus mythology industry.
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T-Mobile officially anounced the T-Mobile G1, aka HTC Dream, or Google Phone etc, the first Android-based mobile phone.
The T-Mobile G1 was unveiled Tuesday September 23 2008 at Guastavino’s in New York City.
The launch event included execs from Google, HTC and T-Mobile, with an apparently unexpected visit by Sergey Brin and Larry Page, who seem to have rollerbladed the 1.2 miles from their previous event, the launch of Google Transit.
Specs for the G1 include:
Full specs are here
Walt Mossberg reviews the G1 in Google’s G1: First Impressions. Walt likes the physical keyboard and the slick software, but adds the music and video playback could be improved.
Google launched their Transit on Google Maps service in NYC September 23 2008. Sergey Brin and Larry Page were on hand at Grand Central Station to offically to announce the tool and to demonstrate its features.
If you’re in one of 58 cities in the U.S., or 17 abroad, you can now use Google Transit to plan your trip by foot, train, bus, or other public transit….as well as by car.
Google Founders Launch Google Transit Tool For NYC – Zimbio, Sepember 23 2008
Leica camera announces their new S-system of DSLR camera, based on a new 37 megapixel 30×45 mm CCD sensor from Kodak. Image processor is called Maestro is “ultra-fast”, according to Leica and was developed together with Fujitsu. Body size is similar to 35mm DSLR cameras.
The “S” in S2 apparently derives from the fact that the camera is “Made in Solms’. Estimated price for the S2 body is €20,000-30,000.
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Olympus will be showing a concept Micro Four Thirds camera at Photokina. Mock up only, but it cetainly looks to be slim and svelt.
Olympus Developing New E-System Four Thirds System-Compliant Digital SLR Camera – Olympus press release, September 22 2008
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